The capital markets are closing the year with a bang, after a slow start. The new administration in the White House combined with the age of this cycle contributed to a decrease in deal activity in the first half of the year. This summer, the market, however, accelerated, and activity in the second half of the year has helped rebound deal volume back to initial expectations. We sat down with Shlomi Ronen, managing principal at Dekel Capital, for an exclusive interview to review the capital markets activity this year and get his expectations for the close of 2017.

GlobeSt.com: After a slow start to the year, capital markets activity picked up at yearend. What drove the surge in the second half of the year?

Shlomi Ronen: I think the lack of activity in the first half of the year and the hesitation related to the post-election uncertainty drove activity in the second half of the year. There is still uncertainty regarding what will actually get done or what the administration will get done. They had a big agenda, and a lot of people took a wait-and-see attitude. Once it was clear that there is a tough slog ahead for the administration to get their very aggressive policies in place, people felt they could do some deals. The market settled and it was back to business as usual—but business as usual with not having done any deals in the beginning of the year.